Here’s a word Bruhat Soma can easily spell: champion. The 12-year-old seventh grader from St. Petersburg, Florida emerged victorious at the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee, in National Harbor, Maryland, in dramatic fashion on May 30 after winning a tie-breaking lighting round “spell-off” — only the second time that’s happened in the history of the bee. Soma spelled an astonishing 29 words in 90 seconds, nine more words than his competitor, Faizan Zaki, reports the Associated Press.
” Soma said it was challenging to remain cool and collected during the spell-off. “Inside my body, my heart was pumping so fast while I was spelling the words because I was like, ‘I have to go as fast I can,’ but I tried to stay calm outwardly and I knew I had to answer the words as fast as I can, so I knew I have to go fast. I have to stay calm somehow,” he said. Soma says he prepared for the bee 10 hours a day on weekends and six hours a day on weekdays.